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A SERMON PREACHED IN THE 

eBiSMSiflSiM €HiISH. 

West Brattleboro, Vt, July 4t]i, 1852. 



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Wlst Brattlkboro, Sept. 20, 1852. 
J. Chandler, 

Dear Sir:— We the Subjicribcrs respectt'ully solicit for the press, a copy 
01' tJio Seniion which vou delivered on the Fourth of July last. 



RUSSELL HAYES, 
DAN'L WARRINER, 
OSHEA SMITH, 
EDW'D CROSBY, 
S. G. SMITH, 
ABNKR ADAMS, 
FRANCIS D. WHEELER, 
THO'S CROSBY, 



H. F. SMITH, 
.lOHN LISCOM, 
WM. GAINS, 
EDW'D DUNKLEE, 
TIMOTHY ADKINS, 
JONATHAN HORTON, 
WILLARD ARMS, Jr., 
SOLYMAN CUNE, 



Gentlemex: — I herewith transmit a copy of the discoiirse you request for publica- 
tion. I have endeavored, by revising and enlarging it somewhat, to make it less un- 
worthy to appear before the public. The importunity of friends is a worn-out apology 
for publication. Be assured that no such importunity in this instance would have pre- 
vailed with me, had you not persuaded me that the publication might aid in the dt 
seminatiou of views and principles which we hold to be important, and of great pres- 
ent iiiterest. Your friend and pastor, 

JOSEPH CHANDLER. 
To Messrs. R. Hayes, I). Warrcner, and others. 

West Brattlcboro, Sept. 21, 1852. 



IsAtAii 8: 11— 1-i. Foi' the Loi'd spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instruct- 
ed me, that I should not walk in the way ol' this people, saying, 

Say ye not, a confederacy, to all theni to whom this people shall say, a confederacy ' 
neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid, • 

Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your 
dread. 

And he shall be for a sanctuary. 



This day bf'injr the Anniversary of the Declaration of our National 
l!id('[ien(ience, it is manifestly not iaiproi)er that we select i'or discussion 
:s()ine one among the many to[)ics which the civil history of the day 
suggests, provided only, that we do not forget what is due to the sa- 
credness of the Lord's day and of the ])ulpit. We are indeed aware 
that there are not a few who think that subjects of a public, national 
and political interest should never be broached in the pulpit, and that 
ministers of the gospel, who presume to preach upon such subjects, 
iieglect their proper duty, and intermeddle with what does not belong 
to them. Now, we do not doubt that some preachers do thus depart 
from the simplicity of the gospel, and lay themselves open to just cen- 
sure, and we are as firmly persuaded that much of the preaching, 
whether on political or other subjects, which men applaud, and which 
fills their mouths with compliments for the preacher, is "another gosjjel." 
But we would ask, does not the prevailing prejudice against the discus- 
sion, in the pulpit, of subjects of public and political interest, indicate a 
wide departure from the principles of the gospel, of those maxims 
which bear sway in politics and in the conduct of public affairs ? Men 
would not be so unwilling that their [)olitical prmciples and conduct 
should be examined in the light of Divine truth, were they not con- 
vscious, or at least suspicious, that such examination would reveal how 
corrupt and how far removed from sound morality the whole business 
of politics is. But again, they who wouKl interdict the clergy from dis- 
cussing and passing judgment upon'public affairs, seem not to be aware 
how much our national independence owes to the American pulpit. Ih 
the year 1774, the General Assembly of Massachusetts Bay sent to the 
several ministers of the province a circular letter, in which, after ac- 
knowledging the goodness of Heaven in constantly supplying them with 
preachers of the gnsjiel, they say, "In a day like this, when all the 
friends of civil and religious liberty ;;re exerting themselves to deliver 
this country from its present calamities, we cannot but place great hoprs 
jd an order of men who have ever distinguished themselves in their 
iiountry's cause, and do therefore recomtTiend to the ministers of the 
gospel in the several towns and other places in this colony, that they 
.issist us id LVoiding that dreadful slavery with which we are now 
rhreatened.'' A <iisringTiishe'J writer of th*-; pr'jsent day nnyn "The 
history of the American pulpi?, durirfg the war for nationui; indep^;fiJ- 
•■nce, affords an instructive comment on the power of a preached gospel 
to make iHon vaJi.m for truth arjJ right, timid in the defense of wrong, 



humane to tlicir »'iiGniies, faitliful to their friends, oFvcdient to the pawcra 
that are oniained of God, but resolute in resistinj? all such encroacli- 
ments as are contrary to the will of Heaven. The opposers of our 
Revolution ascribed it in no small degree to the character of the religion 
of our fathers, a religion which gave great jirominence to the pulpit, 
which made the clergyman a teacher more than a priest, and the laymau 
an intelligent citizen, rather than a passive subject. ' 

We hesitate not to say that the i)nT[)it has done more for civil Ml)ei-Ty 
in this country than its entire military and nav;il establishment has done. 
The very idea of civil liberty was borrowed from the church. Liberty 
was born and nurtured, and had her* hon)e there, long before she aji- 
peared in the state. The puritans asserted and nmintained spiritual 
freedom long before they thought of aiming at a like freedom in tem- 
poral things. Their first and main object in colonizing this country was 
to establish religious liberty for themselves and their children, on a per- 
manent basis. Free institutions in the state followed as a matter of 
course, in the circumstances. But had not religious liberty gone before 
and laid the foundation, had not the self-government of the puritan 
churches m;ide men familiar with the idea and the practical workings vf 
free institutions, all the armies and navies in the world could never 
have established such institutions here. Had not the people of the col- 
onies learned the w^orth of liberty from their enjoyment of it in the 
churches, they never would have fought for it as they did: had they not 
there learned how to use and how to preserve it, the revolution itself 
would have been worse tbiin fruitless — anarchy, military despotism, or 
at best a change of masters, its only result. These, in briet', are our 
reasons for saying that the pulpit has done more than armies and navies 
for free institutions in this country. On any subject, therefore, which 
relates to the welfare of these institutions, and to their bearing upon re- 
ligion and the interests of the church, the pulpit, to which they owe so 
much, has a right to speak. 

The course of thought which we will now pursue, may be gathered 
from the text. Pekaii, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria, had 
fonned an alliance for invading Judea and taking Jerusalem. There- 
upon,. Ahaz, king of Judah, greatly alarmed fur his kingdom, and con- 
ceiving himself wholly unable, without assistance, to meet and resist 
these allied kings, was about forming an alliance with the king of Assy- 
ria. While this was pending, and after Pekah and Rezin had made one 
unsuccessful attempt upon Jerusalem, Isaiah was commissioufid of God. 
to deliver the prophecy of which the text is a part. He fw•^t assures 
Ahaz that there was no danger from th« quarter whence he ajiprehend- 
ed it, and that in a few years both the kings ot" whom he stood in fear 
should be removed from their kingdoms. But lie then goes on to point 
out a source of real and overwhelming dauger. He foretells an inva- 
sion of the land by the king of Assyria, — the very one with whom Ahaz 
was seeking an alliance, — -an invasion,^ too, which should be most calam- 
itous t» the kingdom of Judah.. "The Lord shall bring upon thee and 
upon thy ])eople, and upon thy father's house, days that have imt come 
from the day that Ephraim daparted froiu Judah; even the king of As- 
syria. Ahaz ])aid no regard to the-,;; jjiedietions. His mind was still 
harass(;d with fears of Pekah and Rezui, and .still bent vi.poii an alliance 
with the king of Assyria. Many of his snbjiecis sharetl in his fears, and 
in his desire for this new alliaitce. To this state of things the text ha.s 
.special reference. "The liOrd spake thus to me with a strong li-and,"' — 
strongly and jilniost irresistibly imi»(-lliiig mc !j speak, — "and Instructed 



me that I should not walk in the way of this ])co|)lii,''— thnl I .should not 
fall in with nor countenance tlie designs and measures of the king and 
people, — "saying, say ye not, a confederacy, to all them to whom this 
people shall say, a confederacy" — have nothing to do with this prevail' 
ing demand for an alliance with Assyria, but discountenance and oppose 
it, — "neither fear ye their fear, nor he afraid," — sym|)athise not with 
them in their needles* alarm. "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and 
let him be your tear, and let him be your dread," — worship and honor 
him, and regard him as your safety and your defence; tear not man, hui 
fear God, and provoke not his dis|)leasurc by distrusting and forsaking 
him, and seeking help from man. "And he shall be for a sanctuary," 
an asylum and a place of refuge, where all who take slielter shall be 
safe from harm. 

It is added in the context that the Lord shall be "for a stone of stum- 
bling, and for a rock of otfence to both the houses of Israel ; for a gin 
and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them 
shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." — 
This proj)hecy of what might be expected from the course that Ahaz was 
taking, was strictly fidfilled. Regardless of all warnings, he at length 
obtained the much desired alliance, and threw hiniKilf under the protec- 
tion of the king of Assyria. "This treaty," says a historian, "led to 
the usual results, where a weaker state enters into an allian<;e with a 
stronger. The As.syrian lent his aid as far as suited liis own views 
of conquest ; but when Ahaz was troubled by the Edomites, he sent 
no aid, and he exhausted the kingdom of Jndah by the exaction 
of heav}' tribute." Ahaz, in his increasing ])erplexities, plunj^ed more 
deeply into idolatry. As recorded in the book of Chrnnicles, "He sac- 
rificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him ; and he said, be- 
cause the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacii- 
f.ce unto them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, 
and of all Israel." 

The text affords an instructive analogy, to which we shall recur as we 
have occasion. 

The constitution of the United States, under which our iniion wa'i 
formed, is without doubt the wisest and best |)oliticai constitution evi.-r 
devised by man. To it, under God, we are maiidy indebted f'or our un- 
exampled prosperity, our freedom from restrictions of natural rights, 
from burdensome taxation, and from intestine broils, commotions and 
revolutions. The increase of the nation in numbers, in wealth, in the 
means of education, in resources f'or business, in the useful arts, ami in 
the individual comfort, elevation and refinement of the jieopli/, has no 
parallel in all history. 

At different times, indeed, in our history, the constitution, and espe- 
cially the union of the states under, it, has been exposed to danger, 
from various quarters. The last war with (ireat Britain, contrary ti> 
the will of one-third of the States, the complete triumph of the party 
that favored over that which opposed if, and the annihilation of the lat- 
ter, the nullifying doctrines, and acts of one of the .soutiiern States, the 
large accessions made to our territory, and some minor causes, created, 
each in its turn, serious apprehensions for the safety and iiitegriiy of the 
Union. But while sul)sequent events have shown that mo>t of these ap- 
prehensions were gnjundless, there is \et one oth«'r cau.-c, still in o()era- 
tion, from which more danger has been feared than from any one, and 
p^hap.s all liif other::. It oC«m.^ to '.'e generally ai^iecd ili.it the gicat, 



and iihnost tlip only [)re.sent (larigcr to the Uniorij arises diret-.tly or indi- 
rectly from the institution of Negro slavery. 

Certainly, no one subject has caused greater agitation throughout the 
country for the last few years than this ; and hence, as we might expect, 
there is hardly any subject in respect to which the views of men on both 
sides are more characterized by extravagance, and distorted by preju- 
tlice. The intemperate and fanatical zeal with which the institution has 
been attacked on the one side and defended on the other, has contributed 
inaiidy to this agitation, and indeed, until recently, has constituted the 
greater part of it. At first, and for a long time, it was confined chiefly 
to a small class of violent and reckless men, at the North and the South. 
But within two or three years past, another and better class fiave be- 
come agitated. The minds of many sober men have been filled with 
the most painful apprehensions for the safety of the Union and the con- 
stitution in such a storm, and the cry has gone throu;ih the land, "The 
Union is in danger." The halls of congress witnessed the starting of 
this alarming cry: it was echoed by politicians, in conventions, and thro' 
the political press: it was re-echoed in the marts of commerce, and l)y 
the commercial ])ress ; and even the pulpit lent itself to some extent to 
spread the alarm in ipiartcrs which else it would scarcely h:ive reached. 

Now we are ready to admit, without hesitation, that there is ground 
for alarm. Slavery does very seriously endanger the Union, and will 
yet put it in far greater lianger. No intelligent man can shut his eyes 
to the fact that slavery is at war with the fundamental principles and 
the legitimate tendencies of our constitution, and of our American civi- 
hzition. h has contrived to live in ourcountry, because the constitution 
•suffered it to live: it has even contrived to grow into great power and 
mfluence in our government, by that sufferance. But ever, as it has ad- 
vanced in power, it has tlevelnped, more and more, its true character. — 
Its serpent fangs can no longer be concealed ; it is even now preparing 
to strike its [>oison into the bosom that has cherished it. On every 
slight jirovocation, on every appearance of opposition, it raises its hate- 
ful head, and darts its tiireatening tongue. And the time is not far off, 
•is every observing man must see, when it can no longer be harbored 
Jtmong us, — when an extreme necessity, as in a case of life or death, 
will demand its removal. As sure as there are such things asnong men 
as knowledge, truth, honor, patriotism, philanthrojiy, morality, religion j 
as sure as there is a Church of Christ on earth, — as sure as there is a 
Alilleniuni in prospect, so sure is it that Slavery must and will disappear 
from this land and from the world. All that is good on earth is array- 
ed against it ; the very stars in their courses fight against it. Whether 
io its fall it will bring down our republic with it, cannot now be predict- 
ed; but the two cannot stand much longer upon the same soil. "Slav- 
♦•ry must pass away; or all that brightens and adorns this land with the 
promise of a new era of freedom for mankind, must perish before it. — 
The soil of freedom snust be cultivated by the hands of freemen, or the 
time will come,. when, from each traditionary hill, and from each sacred 
battle-field, the voices of the guardian genii will be hoard in tones of 
grief) Let us depart."* 

There is drwiger, then, enough of it, from slavery. We would nei- 
ther deny, conceal, nor extenuate it. At the same time, we cannot but 
think that there is in many minds a strange misapprehension of the na- 
ture of that danger. A few of the ■•jautli'^rn states, or riither their rep- 

* Dr. BacoH, in Bib. Eer:s , J.iu- Ibi''}. 



9 

resentatives in congress, have for years been threatening to withdraw 
from the union, 'fhis threat is renewed every time they have a diffi- 
cult point to carry. And many good people seem to think that the 
danger is that they will do it. Now, we do humbly conceive that this 
is not the thing we have most to fear. If slavery would just take itself 
otf quietly, and leave us to enjoy our freedom and our noble constitu- 
tion, undisturbed by its incessant agitation, it might not be so very bad 
a thing. But slavery never will do this. It holds too dear all the bul- 
warks and defences which it has compelled our government, whether 
under or over the constitution, it mattered little which, to build around 
it. The utmost nigenuity of the su|)porters of slavery has been taxed 
for years, to extort from thr; constitution interpretations and construc- 
tions whi«h we are quite sure its framers never dreamed of, to uphold 
and strengthen the system. The highest point yet attained in this line 
of policy is indicated in the act of congress known as the Kugitive Slave 
Law. Since that law was enacted, its supporters have demanded, with 
the same insolent pertinacity with which they fought for its enactment, 
that congress and the national party conventions should declare, by 
formal resolutions, that they will abide by it, as a final setdenjent of all 
the disputed questions, to which it has reference ; that they will refrain 
from all agitation of these questions — that they will never demand its 
repeal, and that they will see it thoroughly and faithfully executed. — 
And now, having carried all these points, and gained these advantages, 
we certainly need be under no further apprehension that the South will 
throw them all away by withdrawing from the union. No! the danger 
is not now, if it ever was, that slavery would leave us. The daneer 
is that it will cling to us, like a foul cancerous disease, till it eats away 
the very heart of the nulion. 

The measures that have been taken by those who are thought to have 
saved the union, indicate to our mind very clearly iheir misajiprehen- 
sion of the case. The enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law was con- 
fessedly a sacrifice to propitiate the Moloch of Slavery. The stale and 
empty threat of some of the southern states, that they would withdraw 
from the union, wrought, at length, so much upon the fears of our leg- 
islators as to compel their consent to that law. Of couri^e, the design 
was to unite these disaffected states with their slaveholding interests, 
more closely to the union. At'ter that law had been put in operation, 
and the sound, conscientious men of the North had begun to learn its 
character, and to express their honest and righteous indignation at the 
disgrace of such a law, and their determination to suffer its utmost pen- 
alties, rather than aid in enforcing it, at once the proclamation went 
through the land, "This law must be obeyed, — to refuse obedience is 
treason, not only to the South, but to the government, and even to 
dod." The solemn sanctions of the Bible were urged by great, and 
learned, and honored ])reachers of the gospel, to enforce the duty of 
obedience to tliis law. And so it seeinedthat there was proiluced thro' 
the country a very general agreement, or shall we not say, a confedera- 
cy, to avert the danger to the union, by sustaining and executing the 
Fugitive Slave Law, and thereby strengthening the hands of Slavery. — 
Now, if this is the way to save the union, we think it is high time to in- 
quire what sort of a union it is that can be thus saved, and^what son of 
danger it is that can be thus averted. We would preach no doctrine 
that contem})Iates the dissolution of our union — we would utter no sin- 
gle word in disparagement of it. We subscribe heartily to the senti- 
I'l'-nt of the framers of the constitution, in the preamble to that venera- 



10 

ble instrument, in which they declared its design to be "to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for 
the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the bless- 
ings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." We believe the consti- 
tution to be, on the whole, wisely adstpted to secure these ends. Taking 
it as it is, and by a fair interpretation, we have no disposition to refuse 
obedience to it. We rri^ghf, indeed, most heartily wish that the clause 
relating to fugitives from service or labor were not there. It is our firm 
belief that the only system of servitude thit ought to be looked upon 
with the least tolerance in our country, and the only system recognized 
in the Old Testament, is one from which its subjects would have no de- 
sire and no motive to escape. As we read the Old Testament, such is 
the character of the servitude therein recognized. We understand that 
the returning of a fugitive servant unwillingly to his master is there for- 
bidden ; and that the very fact of his having escaped is taken as evidence 
of such ill treatment on the part of the master as released the servant from 
the obligation of remaining, if he chose to escape. And so we say now ; if 
southern masters wish to retain their servants, and have them obedient 
to the precepts of Paul, let them also regard what is directed to them- 
selves; let them forbear threatening, and give to their servants that 
which is just and equal, and then we should need no Fugitive Slave 
Law. And were it to be presumed that they who escape were treated 
as they shouhl be, and had no good reasons for flight, none could rea- 
sonably object to the clause in the constitution which requires that they 
shall be delivered uj). But when a construction is i)Ut upon that 
clause which makes it my duty, if called upon, to assist in hunting and 
recapturing a fugitive — which makes it a crime for me to extend to him 
the connnon hospitalities of society, to receive him to my house, and to 
give him food and shelter — a construction which puts the liberty of eve- 
ry colored jterson at the North at the mercy of perjured and desperate 
villains, with no hope of redress by law — a construction which makes 
every such person presumptively a slave, unless, in a southern court, 
and before a pro-slavery jury, he can establish his freedom — when we, 
citizens of the free states, are asked to accept all this as invested with 
the sacredness oi law, the answer that I, for one, have to make, is, that, 
though I accept the constitution, I utterly repudiate such construction of 
it. And if you ask me for a reason, 1 hold it reason enough, though not 
all that might be given, that there is a Higher Law, a law that Is to me 
more sacred than even the constitution, and infinitely more than the 
statute for the rendition of fugitives from slavery — a law whose power 
over the consciences of men that fear God is proof alike against the 
most ingenious sophistry, and the most unsparing ridicule. That High- 
er Law is reason enough, why the sober, conscientious and religious 
men of the free states cannot, and we are confident, never will be made 
to go one step beyond the letter of the constitution, in aiiything that will 
strengthen the defences of slavery. 

But then, these are not the men that will dissolve, or in the least de- 
gree endanger the union. These men will abide by the constitution as it 
is, or, if they desire its amendment, they will seek it in constitutional 
modes. They will obey all the laws of the land which they can obey 
without treason to the Great Power, whose kingdom is over all. l^ 
they refuse obedience to any statute, it will be not because their sense of 
the sacred obligation of law is less, but because it is greater than that of 
other men. Therefore they cannot obey a statute which in their honest 
judgment tramples on all that makes law sacred. If the greater part of 



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11 



The nation were of this mind, tho union of those states, vvc are oonfident, 
would stand to the end of the world. 

But there are fanatics at the North, and there are fanatics at the 
South, who have done and arc doing their best to weaken and des- 
troy the union. In this thing the extremes have met. Syria is con- 
federate with Ephraim. But those allies prevailed not against Ju- 
dah: and so the fanatics of both extremes have not destroyed, and 
Tve are persuaded, they cannot destroy this union. We have, how- 
ever, heen surprised that tlieir threats and denunciatioiii should have 
•caused the hearts of so many to be moved, as trees are moved by 
the wind. But we have been more than surprised, we have been 
grieved beyond measure, that they who have been thus moved, 
should have been driven by their real or pretended apprehensions of 
danger to the union, from northern and southern I'anaticism, to^eek and 
obtain that alliance with slavery, which gave birth to the Fugitive Slave 
Law. 

We would not, however, convey the impression that we suppose the 
fear of fanaticism to have been the sole originating cause of that statute. 
Many who now advocate its thorough execution, on the ground that the 
safety of the union demands as much, do not mean, we are sure, exactly 
what they say. In the convention that formed the constitution, wheir 
the question of continuing the slave-trade was under discussion, Mr. 
Rutledge, of South Carolina, said "Religion and humanity have nothing 
to do with this question. Interest alone is the governing principle with 
nations." We would hope that this unqualified statement is not true, 
but certainly we know of no measure of our government with which re- 
ligion and humanity had less to do than the enacting of the Fugitive 
Slave Law. And we know not what motive but interest should impel 
so many men at the North, especially in our cities, to advocate the exe- 
cution of that law, and even to assist therein. We are all aware that 
the interests of commercial men at the North are linked by many and 
strong ties, to southern slavery. And we know equally well that there 
are very few men who take the same view of a question in which their 
interests are much concerned, that they would take were there nothing tc 
gain or lose. Inasmuch, then, as the great majority of coinmerciftl men. 
do not profess to be governed by any other than the selfish principle, it 
is not uncharitable nor severe to say of them, that the cry in their 
mouths, "The union is in danger," meant this, and only this, our craft is 
in danger. 

"It is the sad fate of humanity, that, encompassing its hopes, fears, 
contentment and wishes, within the narrow scope of momentary satis- 
faction, the great lesson of history is taught almost in vain." Thus, in 
•one of his latest addresses, speaks the great Hungarian. We fear it is 
too true. We fear that the particular history to which the text relates, 
its lessons being disregarded, will prove an intimation and a prophecy of 
our national destiny. Ahaz, in his time of danger, alarmed at that 
from which the prophet assured him he had nothing to fear, rushed 
madly upon that which the prophet declared would be his ruin. To re- 
lieve for the moment his imaginary fear.s, he purchased at a great price 
of treasure from the house of the Lord, that confederacy which opened 
he way for the overthrow of his kingdom, and the captivity of the 
[whole nation. In our time of trouhla and of fear, instead of turning to 
^he Lord for help, and to his law for wisdom, the nation aeeuis not on- 
^^y to have desired, but actually to have entered into a confedera«Y with 
'■^the very power of^ all others from which we have mwi to fear. Wc 



r<i!v 




1'^ 

sruMn m-tually to have ruslied into the arms of our deadliest enemy. — 
For if we join hands, and be oonfoderate with slavery, if we clasp it to 
our hosom, if we inseparably link our destiny with its destiny, what can 
we expect but that our republic shall share its inevitable fate, and sink 
with it, at once its partner and its victim ! 

The points of greatest danger in our j)olitical course are not passed 
as yet. The union is not saved and put beyond peril, by the confedera- 
cy of Judah with Assyria. I have not been wont to cherish gloomy 
foreboding of the probable downfall of our republic. 1 have believed 
that there is intelligence, and patriotism, and piety enough in the nation 
to save it — that there are at least ten righteous men in the city, for whose 
sake the Lord will not destroy it. But since men have begun to say, 
Peace and safety — since the claim has been set up that the Fugitive 
Slave Law has saved the union — since the edict has gone forth com- 
manding men of all parties to unite in obeying, sustaining and enforc- 
ing that law, as the oidy means of continuing the union, which it has 
saved — since I have witnessed the ready and obsequious acquiescence of 
the great body of political men in that preposterous demand, T must con- 
fess that darker forebodings than I ever yet experienced have filled my 
mind. In that slight healing of the hurt of my people, I seem to see 
greater danger than in the hurt itself. While Judah abides by the wa- 
ters of Shiloah, and trusts in the living God, I have no fears that he will 
come to harm. But when Judah casts off the law of his God, and be- 
comes confederate with Assyria, then I tremble for him. Then i see 
hiia in a peril from which 1 know not how he will escape. ' 




V 



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